This month I am working on revisiting these standards:
Cherokee Shuffle
Blackberry Blossom
Clinch Mnt Backstep
Rebecca
New Camptown Races
Beaumont Rag
Focus on updating my arrangements. Slow concentrated practice, breaking down parts and focus on relaxation and getting the tone I want. Pay attention to smooth playing - work up the speed slowly with smooth playing.
Start hard work of SMOOTHING out arrangements. This will have to be worked on SLOWLY with a lot of patience. Trying to hold down those strings as long as possible. Notes blend over each other. It will be like UN-learning songs. Have to be done slow with a lot of repetitions.
Start taping arrangements of songs. "Where I am at right now." Play a whole song of just a part and see if I can get it perfect - all notes clear, with as much tone and smoothness that I can coax out of that guitar. Name and date it. This will serve as baseline references for me to compare my progress. Make a folder, call it progress. Maybe make monthly folders. Date each recording. So I can go back and listen to gauge progress.
Record songs/parts at tempos with metronome where I can play all the notes clearly - no missed notes. Then, think about how smooth it is... what kind of tone is there. By the end of the month I would like to be able to push that speed up about 10 clicks.
I want to also attend at least 2-3 RWC jams. And also Masons jams - with recording the masons jams. Figure out best way to do that. I want to listen to and evaluate the recordings. I would like to see some improvement on tone, smoothness, and arrangements by end of month - at least on these songs.
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At the end of the month here are some thoughts about my goals. I think I am getting the feeling that progress will happen but it will often not be linear and it will not be fast. Some days I will feel like I am starting over and cant play at all. Some days will be better and others will be great.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of going back and studying songs for a couple weeks and re visting arrangements is a great idea.
I have started the process of smoothing out my playing. Probably will not hear it in a jam but I think it shows in my practice and when I play with one other. My speed and tone are improving slightly as well. Good to see.